On November 1,1998 I saw Anastasia on the "Precious in His Sight" web site and my husband, Scott, walked in at that same moment and thought she was cute and we noted she had siblings and viewed their pictures and profiles.

We immediately decided we were interested in the sibling group of five and called Adoption Services Associates who had the children listed and they sent videos and medicals within a few days. We worked diligently for 6 months on our home study, dossier, getting a mini van and a new house.

Finally we were down to the waiting for a court date part. We got confirmation of our court date for May 12, 1999 on Monday, May 3rd and had to leave for Russia May 7th. It was pretty hectic getting our tickets, visas, and cash on such short notice. It's 70 miles round trip to the nearest Fed Ex place, and we canceled our credit cards last winter. Luckily my Father was able to milk our cows and manage our Dairy while we were away. Everything fell into place and with a little help from
Adoption Services Associates (ASA) Mother's Day found Scott and I flying to Russia.

We received our Check from A CHILD WAITS FOUNDATION , which was a God send, as we could not have finalized our adoption without it, and ordered our new $100 bills from our small local bank. The cash was there Friday morning and we picked it up on our way to Salt Lake City. We drove the 10 hours to Salt Lake and spent the night with my Aunt and Uncle who took us to breakfast and drove us to the airport Saturday morning so we didn't have to leave our van in parking.

We flew to Los Angeles and then waited a few hours for our Aeroflot flight to Moscow. It was interesting watching the people assemble for the flight. Once on the flight it felt like we were already in Russia as most everyone on the airplane was Russian. On our decent into Moscow we noticed all the shiny tin roofs and could see the villages.

We marched along with everyone else to the lines to check passports and visas and then found our coordinator, Korina, and driver, Leo, who were waiting. Off we flew in an Audi to an apartment to have a doctor's letter translated, then to our host apartment where Olga, her daughter Natasha, and poodle Charlie lived. Natasha attends Moscow University and spoke some English.

The apartment was tiny but Olga sure did cook a lot of food in her kitchenette. We ate a lot of tomato and cucumber salads, soup, bread, cheese, kabossa, tea, coffee,and the list could go on and on. Olga took a liking to Scott and fed him until I thought he would burst.

We had a day of sight seeing with a couple from South Carolina who were adopting a 10 month old baby girl through ASA also. We got the feeling that Americans were not real popular in Russia and there were anti NATO signs.

It was a holiday so Red Square was packed in the afternoon. Scott was uncomfortable carrying around so much cash and we didn't have much spending money so we had Leo take us back to the apartment early. The drivers' stood around and visited and passed the bottle while they waited.

The morning we left for Smolensk we met on a street corner with Eugene. He got in the car with us went over some things about court, counted our cash then took it with no receipt, and went to Richard and Chris's car and did the same thing. While we waited I remember "House of the Rising Sun" playing on the radio in English with a Russian accent.

Eugene appeared a little nervous carrying around nearly $15,000 in cash and Scott noticed a man by the subway watching the proceedings. Meanwhile the driver's had a cigarette and a drink before we took off. Eugene's car was loaded with gifts for the orphanage, children's hospital, etc.

Being country folks we were relieved to drive to Smolensk and be out of the city. The gardens in the villages were impressive and there were markets along the highway with mostly smoked fish hanging on racks. We saw mostly red and white Simmental cows and quite a few goats.

Our potty breaks were interesting as the out houses just had a hole in the ground. Coca-Cola was very popular and tasted just like 'the real thing".

Smolensk is a beautiful city with 7 hills and a wall that 3 horses can ride abreast on. We first stopped at the police station and picked up an inspector. We went to the Children's Hospital first and Scott and I waited outside while Chris and Richard met their baby girl. Then we went to the orphanage, translated to be named 'Little Nest". It was a very old building and we went through several doors to an office and then they brought in Elvira 9, Nataya 8, Kristina 7, and Sergey 5. They were dressed nice with the girls in skirts and tights and Sergey in a blue sweater. Anastasia joined us within a few minutes with a scarf wrapped around her head and throat like the Norman Rockwell painting as she was just getting over mumps. She ran up to me with arms outstretched saying "Mama Mama" which was a little bit of a surprise. (It actually scared me to death.)

Our meeting was video taped and went well. We gave the kids each a silk red rose, a stuffed animal, and played with balloons. They were thrilled with the camera, notebooks, pens, and a little mermaid duffel bag. They were very thrilled with us and took us on a tour of the orphanage showing us the piano, plants, beds, a cat etc. We felt a little guilty as the other kids, there were 80 at the orphanage, watched our kids with their new parents.

After about an hour we were asked officially if we wanted to adopt them, we said "yes" and then we were taken out to eat at a very nice restaurant where we had fresh squeezed orange juice and coffee with salad, soup, pasta, rice, salmon, and cake for dessert. We were then taken to our motel and tried to sleep before our morning court date.

The next morning we were escorted to breakfast by our drivers. Breakfast was a buffet and I took a little pitcher of milk for my coffee, The coffee was tea and the milk was yogurt which curdled the tea. I really think the waiters were disgusted by the Americans.

Scott and I had our court appearance first. It went well. Scott did most of the talking. When the Judge asked if we had anything else to add, Scott thanked the orphanage Director for what they were doing and choked up. Our 10 day waiting period was waived and the adoption approved.

We were shocked to find out that there was 2 younger siblings as that was new information. The court was stressful because we really found out more of the children's circumstances which was hard for us to take in all at once. We waited for Chris and Richard in the hallway, they were approved and had the 10 day waiting period waived also. We were instructed to not speak English while we waited.

Next we went to the courthouse where 2 women worked diligently hand writing new birth certificates. Eugene video taped us signing a bunch of papers. The women then congratulated us and gave us 5 silver coins with the wall and coat of arms of Smolensk that are inscribed "born in Smolensk" in Russian.

Back to the police station, we waited in the parking lot for passports. The trolley went by the police station so we could watch the people while we waited in our car. We were struck by the beauty of the women we saw and everyone dressed mostly in black.

After we got our stack of red Russian passports we went to pick up our children with a bag full of clothes. When we got to the orphanage Elvira, Natalya, and Kristina were in tears as their grandmother had come to bid them farewell. We gave their grandmother hugs and took some pictures then dressed the kids. They were smaller then I expected and they really looked like orphans in their baggy American clothes. Anastasia left with her orphanage shoes and hat which will be a nice keepsake for her.

Babushka kept trying to get us to give her our address but the orphanage director gave us the orphanage address and told us to send all the mail to them and they would distribute it. As we were leaving, the children and orphanage workers lined the steps to watch us leave but nobody waved. We couldn't get the kids to split up so they all piled in back with me and Scott rode in the front with Leo.

Babushka told us via a driver who spoke some English that "she wished for them a good life". I turned around as we were leaving to see this tiny woman collapse in the arms of the orphanage director as we drove away.

We soon learned the word for toilet and stopped frequently along the road. Anastasia and I soon had a struggle over the window being up or down and she threw a few tantrums that left me with a scratched face and missing some hair. At one stop Richard came up to our car to meet the kids and Anastasia promptly flipped him off and said "F---- You". So, they did know a little English! We were a little shocked and quickly started working on "No" then giving a thumbs up and saying "Yes".

We got back to the apartment late and Olga had supper and beds ready. She was really good with the kids. The girls combed my hair until I was practically bald and fixed pony tails so I looked like Chrissy on Threes Company.

The next day we had passport photos and physicals. I was grateful to be physically strong because I had to pack 2-3 kids around sometimes because of the long waits. They got very restless.

Ella had to have a throat culture and was terrified but got through it with a nurse and I holding her hand. She had some strep throat and Anastasia (called Nastia by her siblings and Russians) had some bronchitis that we had to buy medication for which required rubles.

Staying cooped up in the apartment proved challenging as the kids stripped us of watches, lotion, chopstick, makeup, clocks etc. They went through everything and were wearing many layers of clothes. I was glad I'd brought so many clothes for them to choose from. It was difficult to keep them out of Olga and Natasha's belongings and we managed to break the bathroom sink which we paid $75 for.

We did the delice shampoo and it was amazing to watch the joy the kids had bathing, brushing their teeth , eating and sorting their new possessions.

Friday we went to the American Embassy. Scott remembered on the way that he'd left the money and we had to go back to the apartment, so we were later than we had hoped and waited a long time in a very crowded room with many other adopted children.

We could tell our file by the size of it. When we were called to a window the problems started as there was some confusion with our affidavit of support and they wouldn't issue the visas without more proof of income and assets. We rushed back to the apartment and I desperately called my mother. It was hard to reach her as the operator wouldn't always pick up and it was about 3am in Montana. After about 7 phone calls my mother got a letter faxed to the American Embassy and Korino and ASA with the number of cattle we have, their value and my father signed as a cattle trader which I guess is true.

With minutes to spare on Friday at 5 p.m. Korina picked up the children's visas and got chewed out by the American Embassy, but managed to get them to us by 6:30, much to our relief. Without the visas on Friday our airline tickets would be worthless as we were to leave Saturday. We were also seriously short of cash.

Olga gave us hugs good-bye and I started crying and cried all the way to the airport. Then I was too occupied with a death grip on Anastasia, Natalya, and Kristina as they kept trying to run off. Ella and Sergey were pretty well behaved and Scott had all the documents for customs, airline tickets, etc. which took about 3 hours to go through before our flight.

I sat with Anastasia, Scott with Sergey, and the 3 older girls sat across the aisle together. Anastasia did not want a seat belt on and threw a fit. Ella, Natalya, and Kristina were having the time of their lives and hugged and kissed on take off.

Now the real endurance test began. The kids ate condiments; sugar, sugar, sugar, and salt and kept getting cokes and tea. Being so spread out it was difficult to keep them from consuming too much caffeine and sugar and they were wired for 13 hours straight, no sleeping. The flight looked like an orphanage evacuation with at least 11 adoptees on board. The other passengers were wonderful and helped a lot.

I checked out Natalya's back pack after watching her and found it was full of wine bottles she was gathering and cigarette butts. Kristina and Anastasia had tantrums but Sergey and Ella were pretty well behaved.

Upon landing in LA we quickly went to customs because we only had 2 hours until our next flight. At the American customs we waited in line, then the workers had a break, then a shift change. They finally took our stack of paperwork and the names were spelled different on the passports than the birth certificates so they had to check that out. When we finally got our luggage and documents together it was way late and the kids were running in 5 directions at which point Scott and I both lost it and yelled at the kids, put Anastasia on a cart with the luggage and ran as fast as we could to Delta which was about half a mile from Aerof lot.

I was impressed with how the kids could run. We checked in our baggage and Delta made a special luggage haul to get it on the airplane. When we got to the gate everyone was loaded and we were dripping sweat. The flight attendants were wonderful. They pinned wings on the kids, got them pillows and blankets and all 5 slept soundly to Salt Lake. The Delta crew gave us a big bag of chips and cookies and a bottle of wine wrapped in a linen napkin with a Delta pin.

When we got off at Salt Lake we were aware of the change of atmosphere and the kids were kind of scared and stuck close to us. Scott's mom flew up from New Mexico and my Aunt and Uncle and cousins met us with balloons, toys, and cameras. Aunt Jennie also had 2 missionaries along who spoke Russian which was very thoughtful and helped the kids understand what was going on.

Aunt Jennie had a buffet dinner and the kids wouldn't eat until most everyone was gone, then we had a hard time getting them out of the refrigerator and a harder time getting them to bed. I don't think they slept at all and we had to leave the light on, they were all in the same bed and fully dressed.

Ella and Anastasia had been taking their medicine from the American Medical Center and we couldn't get Anastasia to take hers so I pretended to take it. She hit the spoon as I was doing this so I got most of a spoonful which tasted like bananas. Later that night I couldn't breathe and had to sit up and gasp for air most the night. It finally struck me the medicine must have been penicillin which I'm allergic to. Then the nosebleeds started.

We left the next morning after a bath and hotcakes and sausage. Some neighbors came to meet the kids and we dropped Scott's mom off at the airport and headed home in our van. The first gas stop was challenging. The kids liked chips and would say "chips, chips", the ice cream bars were painted on the windows and we ate hotdogs and went through a McDonalds drive through. They liked the fries but weren't interested in hamburgers. We wised up and got a gallon of water and cups and ate fruit snacks.

We abandoned the idea of staying at Scott's dad's in Whitehall and went straight home arriving about 10:30 p.m.. I cried off and on all the way home.My parents had been taking care of the dairy while we were gone so were there when we arrived.The kids met our 4 dogs and my parents 2 dogs (Their 3rd dog died in our utility room the morning we left for Russia). The dogs seemed to think they were OK.

Going to bed was frantic and called for screaming tantrums from Sergey and Anastasia.We tried toast and cereal the next morning but it wasn't well received. My nose kept bleeding much of the time. My hair starting falling out the morning we left for Russia and now was falling out by the comb full.Scott went back to work bright and early the next morning and my parents left. I cried when they left.

Our first meal together the kids played Garth Brooks Christmas Album and it played "What Child is This" and I cried. The kids started ransacking the house and stashing food and cooking everything they could find. We got a few good meals of eggs and sausage, macaroni and cheese and hot dogs, but I cried most of the time.

After more tantrums the kids all slept in a heap on the living room floor. The house was trashed, but they were sure enjoying taking about 4 baths a day and dumping every bottle of shampoo, soap, detergent, and whatever else they could find in the water.

We got many phone calls of support and my cousins sent a lot of groceries from Costco which was wonderful.

The trips to the store were truly wild and my nose kept bleeding and I got very depressed much to my own amazement as I had worked so hard to adopt these kids and looked forward to them coming home. They finally pushed too far and I lost it and hit the wall with my palm yelling"enough" as my nose started gushing. They minded and must have thought Mama was crazy.

Scott's sister Cheryl came over about 7 p.m. one evening to watch the kids so I could sleep. That was the best gift I ever had.Next day I started taking charge and became the boss and got organized.

We had a lot of company and people brought food and clothes and toys and wanted to meet the kids. Meanwhile we trailed our cows to pasture, branded, milked, irrigated, and put up our hay. The kids got a pony and helped with chores , went swimming in the pond, and watched movies. They got a swing set and I discovered they were sucking eggs like skunks when they found them.

My great break was milking cows until the kids started helping. The cows seemed to get accustomed to them. My true time to myself has been riding my horse Teka a few times a week.

After about 2 weeks we got them to a bedroom to sleep, kicking and screaming the whole way, and they slept in one bed for a few weeks. After a few more weeks we got the 2 youngest in one bedroom which caused a lot of crying and wailing.

On October 1, I decided it was time to move them into their appropriate rooms as Kristina was sleeping on the floor in Ella and Natalya's room. I moved Kristina into Anastasia's room and she screamed until about 3 am and cried most of the rest of the day. Sergey was happy to have his own room and Kristina likes her room and having a bed now.

Ella went to a friend's house and now believes we need a new house with 7 bedrooms.

After we were home a few weeks we met 2 Russian couples who were staying in Hot Springs for a month and the kids were terrified at first and pretended not to understand. The Russians did explain to them about sunscreen and gave them a big bag of sunflower seeds which the kids love.

The kids hid behind books when some teachers came to evaluate their school level with our social worker. We registered them for school which terrified Ella as she thought we were going to leave them.

The local 4-H club had a potluck dinner for the kids June 6th and had a sagebrush for a money tree. The food was great and a couple hundred people came to meet the kids. We got so many anonymous donations of blankets, clothes, books, toys, and money it was amazing.

June 12th is Homesteader's Days in Hot Springs and a neighbor made a float for "The Fredrickson's" to ride in the parade and the kids won first place in the kids division.They were fearless on the carnival rides and enjoyed the rodeo. The girls love to dress up and are very feminine. Sergey is very mechanical and goes with Papa a lot.

They wanted to see the dress I was wearing in our wedding album and were amazed when I took it out of the closet. I don't think they could believe they never found it while tearing everything apart. They dressed me in it and have been better about not destroying everything ever since. They seemed to know it was special.

I was writing letters one day and Ella indicated she wanted envelopes and addressed 9 envelopes in Russian. I called a Russian acquaintance to find out what to do with them. She told me to write Russia under the address and have them weighed at the post office. It cost about 60 cents per letter.
The letters were from Ella and Natalya to their Babushka and friends. I got out the address from the orphanage and Ella read it and said "No, garbage".

We inquired about the addresses and she showed us a page from the notebook we gave her the day we met with 2 addresses. One was Babushka's and the other she drew a cross and we gathered she was sending Sveta, a 15 year old girl from the orphanage, a letter via a church in Smolensk. They haven't got any letters back yet.

The first trip to Wal Mart, a big grocery store, and the potluck Ella would just sigh in amazement.

They love to go on walks and I knew I could handle being a mother to them when our Border Collie "Goose" got lost the first week we were home and we searched and finally found her exhausted by a cattle guard. They were so tickled and shook their change purses to go to the store and they bought a can of dog food for her. Being an animal lover I was touched by their good hearted nature.

They went to bible camp for a few days this summer and I had to be with them the whole time. Then they were tutored by 2 Russian gals on a grant from the university of Montana for a few weeks before school started. We had a hard time getting them to stay at the school for the tutoring the first few mornings and one morning I just had my thumb broke by a cow but I got them there on time then went to the clinic.

I was selected to compete in the Pan American Championship Endurance ride in Winnipeg Manitoba in August. It was a 100 mile ride and we all went. It was stressful at times but a good bonding experience and we visited Scott's relatives in North Dakota on the way home.

We were nicknamed the Montana wolf pack as one night after we went to a dance for a while the kids got very upset when Scott and I danced together once. We took them back to our camp to go to bed and they screamed and wailed most the night. The 3 younger ones fell asleep pretty quick, but Ella and Natasha screamed for hours and we couldn't do anything with them. It must have been a flash back of some kind.

By the time school started they were ready and are doing excellent. Ella is in 4th, Natalya, who likes to be called Natasha, is in 3rd, and Kristina is in lst. We debated about 1st or 2nd for Kristina but 1st has worked out great as she learns. Sergey went to kindergarten one day and completely freaked out and would only stay in the room if Ella was with him. We decided to keep him at home a year and Anastasia and him have a great time together.

We were on the front page of the county paper one week and the kids recognized their pictures. There was a great story written on our family and Ella could read parts of it.

The kids fight over things now and are very possessive of their things. It is gratifying to see their personalities blooming as their trust grows.

What surprised me most about adopting was how overwhelming and emotionally draining it was. I don't know if it was because of the number of kids or just the life style change but it takes a little while to bond and be comfortable together. Our kids are beautiful, intelligent, and full of life and adopting them is without a doubt the most important and rewarding thing we've ever done.

We think about the younger sister, Angela, and would love to adopt her if we could find her. She would be 3 now. Vladimir who would be 2 now is already adopted and most likely in the United States.

Thanks to A CHILD WAITS FOUNDATION for helping us get our adoption done as soon as possible.

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